Taylor Hobson Cooke series III

[Olivier]

Hello.

I saw this lens and have several questions.

- What aperture and focal length is it ?
- Is it a good IQ lens ?
- Can it be mouted on Canon 5D MkII ? on MFT ? using bellows or Henry's VNex VMfT system ?
- On which camera was it mounted and which years ?
- Finally what would be a good price for it ?

A lot of questions, sorry...


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[iangreenhalgh1]

Not worth much, 50eu maybe.

TT&H lenses were the best you could buy prior to ww2, the old adage back then was that TT&H and Zeiss made the best lenses and everyone else was in a race for second place.

This lens is for the obsolete 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 format, probably doesn't cover 5x4 so that will limit saleability. It's a 5.5 inch lens, or 140mm.

It's a triplet, I have some other TT&H triplets of similar vintage. They are VERY sharp when stopped down. Wide open there is uncorrected spherical aberration which gives a soft, glowy rendering. Contrast is low as it's uncoated, but PP can fix that in a click.

Try it on a set of bellows, see if you like the character.

[kds315*]

Agree with Ian. Not to be compared with the later, much better ones also having different lens formula. Lens Vademecum tells the whole TTH story btw. worth reading!!

[Olivier]

Thank you both.

Ian, it was under 50eu, so I got it.
I'll see what it gives in a few days.

Klaus, I'll read the lens vademecum.
It is in the "Links" room.

I think it should be fine to put a sticky in this room, so I created it here.
http://forum.mflenses.com/lens-vademecum-t70220.html

Please, Klaus, feel free to add complementary informations if you wish.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Look forward to seeing results, old TT&H lenses are something I would love to collect but they usually cost a bit too much for my meagre budget.

[Olivier]

[dan_]

Nice lens, Olivier. And the price was good.

I have some ~8-10 TT&H lenses and I was quite found of them when used on medium format film. Some of them are remarkable on digital too, in spite of their age and difference in format.
The old TT&H Series III lenses were "all purpose lenses" with an aperture of f/6.5. Good quality, but not the most south after lenses they made. They sold them with a lot of cameras - I have a Kodak-Cooke F/6.5 one from a Kodak camera. I think Ian has described quite well their character.

More information here:
http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/cooke_1.html

[Olivier]

Thank you Dan.